Ukraine opposition defy govt-backed amnesty bill for protesters

The Ukrainian opposition rejected an amnesty bill adopted by the parliament, which requires that protesters vacate occupied government buildings. Opposition leaders demand an unconditional amnesty and pledge to continue their protest.

Once signed into law, the bill will offer blanket amnesty to all
participants of anti-government rallies, with the exception of
those suspected of major crimes, like murder or kidnaping.

The amnesty is to come into force automatically after the general
prosecutor confirms in an official statement that the protesters
have ceded all government and administrative buildings in the
country, as well as some streets. The latter do not include the
sites of peaceful protests, like Kiev’s Independence Square and
European Square. The bill sets a 15-day deadline for the
opposition to meet the conditions.

The amnesty bill was submitted by the ruling Party of Regions and
supported by 232 of the 450 total members of Ukraine's unicameral
parliament. It was one of four competing amnesty bills on the
floor during the emergency parliament session on Wednesday. The
party said the amnesty is the third major concession in the past
few days made in response to the opposition demands.

“[This legislation] provides for steps for both the
authorities and the opposition. They relinquish the seized
buildings; we relinquish participants of the clashes from
responsibility. It’s called compromise. But if they don’t hold
their part of the obligations, the law ‘dies’ and no amnesty
takes place. So of hundreds of people are punished for violating
the law, the blame would be fully on [opposition leaders]
Klitschko, Yatsenyuk and Tyagnibok,” explained Mikhail
Chechetov, a Party of Regions MP.

But the opposition does not appear to see the deal as fair.
Opposition lawmakers refused to support the draft, saying that
detained protesters must be released without any preconditions.
After it was passed, they said they would challenge it on
procedural grounds.

“The law was adopted in clear violation of [parliamentary]
rules, it wasn’t discussed in the committee. It was absolutely
illegitimate and illegal. This law shouldn’t be recognized,”
said the leader of the nationalist Freedom (Svoboda) opposition
party, Oleg Tyagnibok.

“They are trying to make us responsible for the situation in
the country,” the politician said.

Arseny Yatsenyuk, leader of the opposition Batkivshchina
(Fatherland) Party alleged that the government wants to ‘shut
down the Maidan’ with the amnesty law.

Opposition UDAR party leader Vitaly Klitschko believes that the
new law will only increase tension within Ukrainian society and
will not help to ease the political crisis.

“Instead of lowering the tensions in the community, the
temperature will rise,” Klitschko said.

Days before that, President Viktor Yanukovich’s offered Yatsenyuk
the role of chairman of the new Ukrainian government, with
Klitschko getting a ministerial position in it. Both opposition
leaders rejected the offer.

On January 16 Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed
controversial anti-protest laws that imposed strict punishments
for violators. The new legislation sparked mass protests, which
quickly transformed into violent riots on Grushevskogo Street.
The damage from protests in Kiev is estimated to be at least $2.5
million, the city administration said Wednesday.